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Lot Essay
The Prototype
In August 1837, the principal advocate of the fledgling Great Western Railway, the celebrated Isambard Kingdom Brunel, famous also for his promotion of the broad gauge (7ft ¼in. between the rails), employed a very young and up-coming engineer as his chosen locomotive superintendent for the new railway. His name was Daniel Gooch, just under 21 years old at the time of his appointment and, like his mentor, equally dedicated to the broad gauge. The early broad gauge locomotives on hand at the time of his arrival were a bit of a 'mixed bag', to put it mildly, but by 1846 Gooch had managed to develop a reliable stud of new locomotives, of which perhaps the most celebrated early example was Firefly, built to Gooch's design in 1840.
The design of the Great Western was superficially similar in principle and appearance to Firefly itself, owing not a little to those many other locomotives which were now being produced for the standard gauge by such firms as the famous Robert Stephenson & Co. of Newcastle. However, because of the greater structural clearances and overall size offered by the broad gauge at that time, the GWR end-product was both physically larger and usually more powerful than its standard gauge contemporaries. Additionally, and although the 2-2-2 wheel arrangement of this new GWR type generally copied that of the Firefly design, it also incorporated Gooch's own design of valve gear which not only allowed forward and reverse gear to be selected easily by the driver, but also enabled the more efficient use of steam by means of 'notching up' - i.e. cutting off the steam supply to the cylinder part way through the admission stroke, thus allowing the natural expansive nature of the steam to take over.
The boiler and grate were both larger than the Firefly type and this, together with 18 x 24in. cylinders and 8ft driving wheels, produced a fast and powerful machine, the new locomotive performing well and averaging 56mph on a run to Exeter in 1846. Unfortunately, soon after commissioning, the leading axle broke at Shrivenham and the engine had to go back into workshops for attention, where it was rebuilt into 4-2-2 configuration which solved the problem by giving more 'riding stability' at the leading end without any material change to its essential nature. This relatively modest change eventually led to the even larger Iron Duke type.
Great Western itself remained in service until December 1870 when it was broken up after completing some 370,687 revenue miles. In its rebuilt 4-2-2 form it set a style for all later broad gauge express passenger types, which remained unchanged in basic principle until the final abandonment of the broad gauge in 1892. As such, it was a very important wheel arrangement, the model on offer being even more interesting and significant simply by way of offering the original configuration from which all else stemmed.
In August 1837, the principal advocate of the fledgling Great Western Railway, the celebrated Isambard Kingdom Brunel, famous also for his promotion of the broad gauge (7ft ¼in. between the rails), employed a very young and up-coming engineer as his chosen locomotive superintendent for the new railway. His name was Daniel Gooch, just under 21 years old at the time of his appointment and, like his mentor, equally dedicated to the broad gauge. The early broad gauge locomotives on hand at the time of his arrival were a bit of a 'mixed bag', to put it mildly, but by 1846 Gooch had managed to develop a reliable stud of new locomotives, of which perhaps the most celebrated early example was Firefly, built to Gooch's design in 1840.
The design of the Great Western was superficially similar in principle and appearance to Firefly itself, owing not a little to those many other locomotives which were now being produced for the standard gauge by such firms as the famous Robert Stephenson & Co. of Newcastle. However, because of the greater structural clearances and overall size offered by the broad gauge at that time, the GWR end-product was both physically larger and usually more powerful than its standard gauge contemporaries. Additionally, and although the 2-2-2 wheel arrangement of this new GWR type generally copied that of the Firefly design, it also incorporated Gooch's own design of valve gear which not only allowed forward and reverse gear to be selected easily by the driver, but also enabled the more efficient use of steam by means of 'notching up' - i.e. cutting off the steam supply to the cylinder part way through the admission stroke, thus allowing the natural expansive nature of the steam to take over.
The boiler and grate were both larger than the Firefly type and this, together with 18 x 24in. cylinders and 8ft driving wheels, produced a fast and powerful machine, the new locomotive performing well and averaging 56mph on a run to Exeter in 1846. Unfortunately, soon after commissioning, the leading axle broke at Shrivenham and the engine had to go back into workshops for attention, where it was rebuilt into 4-2-2 configuration which solved the problem by giving more 'riding stability' at the leading end without any material change to its essential nature. This relatively modest change eventually led to the even larger Iron Duke type.
Great Western itself remained in service until December 1870 when it was broken up after completing some 370,687 revenue miles. In its rebuilt 4-2-2 form it set a style for all later broad gauge express passenger types, which remained unchanged in basic principle until the final abandonment of the broad gauge in 1892. As such, it was a very important wheel arrangement, the model on offer being even more interesting and significant simply by way of offering the original configuration from which all else stemmed.